


Intermission

by Bella_Dahlia



Series: The Cabin in the Woods [3]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 2.18 scene, F/M, Friendship, Jeronica, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, Pining, why do they never give these two scenes when they clearly could?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 22:25:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14411823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Dahlia/pseuds/Bella_Dahlia
Summary: Given Jughead’s very recent lessons on appropriation and not speaking from a place of privilege, Betty’s outburst at Carrie rehearsal doesn’t sit quite right.OR, Jughead checks in on Veronica.





	Intermission

**Author's Note:**

> Hello gentle reader! This little one shot can easily take place within the canon version of events, but in my head I link it back to my version of the infamous Kiss, hence filing within The Cabin in the Woods series.

The saying goes that you can’t look away from a train wreck. Like so many writer’s cliches, Jughead knew this one, and promptly scoffed at it. There was no higher power forcing you to observe disaster—there was always a choice. He knew it when he lived in a projection booth rather than watch his dad drink himself to death. He knew it when he didn’t look away from the footage of Jason Blossom’s murder. You always chose, even if your gut did it for you. 

So he knew he chose to watch his blonde haired, blue eyed, upper middle class girlfriend lecture her Latina best friend about privilege in front of a crowd. He also chose to sink further in his seat and wish he could disappear right into the floor, but he dutifully recorded the disaster as he was committed to doing. He considered widening the lenses to take in the reactions of the cast on stage, but instinct instead made his camera move from Betty to Veronica, taking in her expression as she was publicly ripped apart. The brunette stood silent, almost stoic, but there was none of the haughty, holier than thou attitude that Betty accused her of. She took the assault with humility and grace, and it was only in the last moment, right before she turned to quietly exit the stage, that the camera caught a shimmer of a tear trailing down her cheek.

Jughead put the camera down in his lap, pausing the recording while he chewed his lower lip. He couldn’t help but feel partly responsible for Betty’s outburst. He had insisted on taking the moral high ground with the Lodges, he had decided to lump Veronica in with her parents, he had chosen distance as the best course of action.

What he hadn’t told Betty, what he had barely admitted to himself, was that his decisions about Veronica had less and less to do with the politics, and more and more to do with the way she invaded his dreams.

Ever since the weekend at the lake, since Veronica kissed him and awakened a feeling wholly different from anything he ever felt before, Jughead’s dreams were plagued with needy, breathless whispers, with feverish kisses and frenzied sex. The circumstances always varied but the end result was always the same: he would notice the dark hair, the tan skin, and it would be Veronica’s throaty voice begging for his attention. That was about the time he would inevitably wake up, and guiltily roll over to sleep with his back to his girlfriend. It was actually something of a relief when Betty went back to live with her mother, and not just because of the awkwardness of taking his Dad’s bed. 

The sound of Archie’s voice grabbed Jughead’s attention and he twisted in his seat in the auditorium, seeing both Archie and Betty now sitting in the audience. He realized Archie was calling Betty out for her treatment of Veronica and instinctively brought the camera back up to record the conversation. After only a minute or so of filming, Jughead put the camera back down, turning it off and capping the lenses. Archie was busy giving Betty some well needed perspective while they waited for their next scene to come up, but Veronica wasn’t called for the rest of rehearsal. 

Fully aware of all the reasons he shouldn’t go anywhere, Jughead chose to quietly leave the auditorium, leaving the camera safely stored backstage. 

————————————————

When Jughead didn’t find Veronica in the dressing rooms, he set out to the music room; the next closest place to the auditorium. The door was pulled to but not shut firmly, inviting him to gently push it open further. Veronica’s head was down, focused on the task of strapping on her shoe. Her foot sat propped on one of the student chairs, her already short plaid skirt hitching higher up her toned thigh and Jughead had to will himself to look anywhere but that expanse of skin.

_Get a grip you heathen._

“Hey...” Jughead stepped into the music room, pushing the door shut behind him with the back of his foot. She looked up, clearly caught off guard, and immediately brought her foot down to the floor, pivoting to turn her back to him.

“Could you just—could you wait and tell me what a terrible person I am tomorrow?” Veronica attempted to keep her tone flippant, but a slight tremble betrayed her. 

Jughead stopped his slow cross towards her, one of his hands self consciously adjusting the strap of his messenger bag. “Veronica—“

“—Really, Jug, tomorrow? Tomorrow would be great for me, you can tell me how much I deserve it or add new insults to the mix, either would be fine, but if I have to try and take one more proverbial punch from someone I thought was a friend...” She trailed off when Jughead closed the distance between them and turned her around by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. Tears glittered around her brown eyes unspilled, her teeth bit down on her lower lip to keep it still. 

“That’s not why I’m here,” Jughead told her gently. “I wanted to—I never—I’m so sorry, Veronica.”

She drew in a sharp breath, catching a sob and swallowing it back. Twin tears fell from her lashes as she squeezed her eyes shut, and the sight of it made Jughead’s chest twist painfully. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace she didn’t resist. After a moment she wrapped her arms around him, sliding her hands under his sheepskin jacket to hug him tightly in response. 

Academically speaking, Jughead felt conflicted about Veronica; deeply concerned at how she saw and wielded power, suspicious of what she thought of her parents schemes. Emotionally, however... all he wanted was to stay in that moment, untouched by the world around them. As they stood, quietly wrapped in each other, Jughead couldn’t help but notice the warmth of her skin, pick up the indescribable but intoxicating scent of her perfume. He could drown in her, he thought with his pulse thudding loudly in his ears. Just drown in her without care or consequence. He suddenly had sympathy for some of the more questionable decisions Archie made in the past when it came to his relationship.

Veronica’s voice finally broke the silence, her head still resting against his chest. “I thought you hated me by now.”

“What?” Jughead met her gaze as she looked up at him, their arms loosening but not releasing their grip on each other. “No, I—I’ve never...”

She shrugged. “We’re always two steps forward three steps back. I know the lake house had... some weirdness but I thought we had—I mean, we talked and it was good and we both said hanging out would be cool, but then you totally Caspered. And then the stupid Student Body President race, and then this show—and you and Betty seem to have no problem being Archie’s friend through all of this but I’m suddenly the town pariah... what am I supposed to think?”

One last tear escaped Veronica’s lashes, beginning to roll down her face. In a foolish moment, Jughead reached up and allowed his thumb to tenderly swipe away the tear as it hit her cheekbone. In the smallest motion, Veronica’s head tilted ever so slightly into his touch and the gesture sent a thrill racing up his spine that he didn’t want to acknowledge.

“It was just a self preservation thing,” Jughead confessed softly. “Things have been... intense. Everywhere. I didn’t know...” He shrugged helplessly, and watched the flurry of emotions that crossed Veronica’s face, the way confusion gave way to understanding gave way to something warm and dark and conflicted. 

“We’re mostly responsible, almost adults,” Veronica replied slowly. “We can handle being friends, right?”

Jughead swallowed against the lump forming in his throat and nodded. She was right, of course. Neither one of them were hopeless slaves to their emotional state. A little self control wasn’t too much to ask. 

As she smiled up at him, a soft smile full of a warmth he’d never seen Veronica direct his way before, Jughead’s heart leapt up into his throat, somersaulting wildly on its way back down.

He saw the wreck coming from a thousand miles away, and he took another step towards it anyway.

“Of course, we’re friends—Absolutely.”


End file.
